Roasted Tomato and Arbol Chile Salsa

Lupe Romero Vidal and her best friend, Chabela Cortés García, live in a 300-year-old hacienda in the countryside of Hidalgo, Mexico. They make this spicy red salsa in a deep lava-stone molcajete (mortar).

Ingredients

9 or 10 dried arbol chiles

2 peeled garlic cloves

4 Roma tomatoes

1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt

Nutritional Information

Calories 5.3

Caloriesfromfat 7.4%

Protein 0.2g

Fat 0.0g

Satfat 0.0g

Carbohydrate 1g

Fiber 0.5g

Sodium 128mg

Cholesterol 0.0mg

Calories 5.3

Caloriesfromfat 7.4%

Protein 0.2g

Fat 0.0g

Satfat 0.0g

Carbohydrate 1g

Fiber 0.5g

Sodium 128mg

Cholesterol 0.0mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Heat a cast-iron skillet over low heat. Add chiles and garlic. Toast, turning often, until chiles are a shade darker and garlic is lightly toasted, about 4 minutes. Transfer both to a bowl.

Step 2

Increase heat to high. Add tomatoes and toast, turning occasionally, until blackened on several sides, about 10 minutes, transferring to a bowl as done.

Step 3

To make the salsa in a mortar, put toasted garlic and salt in a deep mortar (molcajete) and pound to a coarse paste, pushing down with the pestle and then rocking it back and forth a few times before pounding again. Add toasted chiles and coarsely crush, then pound in toasted tomatoes one at a time. Add salt to taste. To make in a blender, add all ingredients at once and pulse until coarsely puréed.